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EPA's risk management research on EDCs shows combustion products can be androgenic. NRMRL researchers, Clyde Owens and Brian Gullett, have discovered androgenicity in the products of combustion. (See news coverage in Environmental Science and Technology).
Because of the potential global scope of the Endocrine Disrupting Chemical (EDC) problem, the possibility of serious problems in humans and wildlife, and the persistence of some suspected EDCs in the environment, research on EDCs is a high priority in EPA's Office of Research and Development's (ORD). Research & Development's National Risk Management Research Laboratory (NRMRL) is conducting research to investigate sources of suspected EDCs that impact the environment. Risk management strategies are being developed by Research & Development to minimize exposure of humans and wildlife to suspected EDCs. Risk management EDC research efforts focus on areas such as waste water treatment, drinking water treatment, and pollution prevention making it the only such program in the world. The program's overarching research questions are:
- Using current available approaches, can the risk of EDCs be managed in a cost-effective manner in cases where the known or highly suspected EDCs appear to be causing impacts on the environment?
- As more information is generated from effects, exposure and assessment research, what new tools are needed to manage likely and unacceptable risk associated with EDCs?
Highlighted Publication |
Removal of Endocrine Disruptor Chemicals During Drinking Water Treatment, EPA/625/R-00/015, March 2001 (PDF, 1.1 M, 27 pp) |